1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording device that holds and conveys recording paper or other medium with a pair of conveyance rollers and records on the medium being conveyed with a recording head, and moves the recording head between a position opposing the medium and a position retracted from opposing the medium, and to a control method of the recording device.
2. Related Art
Recording devices such as inkjet printers have a conveyance mechanism comprising a conveyance roller pair that holds and conveys recording paper (media) between a driven roller and a conveyance roller, which is the drive roller, and a recording head that prints (records) by ejecting ink onto the recording paper being conveyed. Such recording devices may move a carriage that carries the recording head in a direction crosswise to the conveyance direction of the recording paper, and move the recording head between a position (recording position) opposing the recording paper on the conveyance path and a position (retraction position) removed to the side (widthwise) away from the conveyance path. When not printing, the recording head is moved to the retraction position where it waits.
Such recording devices may also have a cover disposed to the outside case of the recording device, and when a paper jam occurs with the conveyed recording paper stuck in the conveyance path, the cover can be opened to expose the conveyance path and remove the jammed recording paper. An example of such a recording device (image forming device) is described in JP-A-2013-180450. The image forming device described in JP-A-2013-180450 has an openable access cover disposed to the front of the device cabinet. This image forming device detects when the user opens the cover, and then retracts the recording head at a constant speed to a position removed from the conveyance path to open the conveyance path of the recording paper (medium). Because one roller of the conveyance roller pair is disposed to the cover, the recording paper is also released from being nipped by the conveyance roller pair as a result of the cover opening. The recording paper can therefore be easily removed from the conveyance path.
If the recording head is retracted from the conveyance path to open the conveyance path as described in JP-A-2013-180450, there is a chance of the moving recording head or carriage catching and pulling the recording paper stuck in the conveyance path, thereby making the paper jam worse, possibly damaging the paper, and making completely removing the jammed paper more difficult. When retracting the recording head from the conveyance path when a paper jam occurs, The carriage is therefore controlled to move at a slower speed than when printing.
However, the time required to completely retract the recording head obviously increases if the distance the carriage must travel is great when the carriage is retracted at a slow speed. Therefore, if the user opens the cover before head retraction operation is completed in order to quickly remove the paper jam and resume operation, the user may pull the jammed recording paper while the recording head is still positioned over the recording paper, and the recording paper may catch on the recording head or carriage and be torn. Pieces of the torn recording paper may then be inadvertently left inside the recording device and create other problems.
Considering that the risk of the recording paper being torn by the user is great when the retraction distance of the recording head is long and the retraction operation will take a relatively long time, the recording head is preferably retracted within an appropriate time when a paper jam occurs in order to prevent problems resulting from torn pieces of paper being left inside. However, the literature is silent about a carriage retraction operation for retracting the recording head within an appropriate time.